Xenia not Pulsing

kynekke

kynekke

Member
My Xenia stopped pulsing this morning. I know he was getting a LOT of water flow and thought maybe that irritated him so I moved him to a few new places and everywhere I put him he was blown over. I've moved all PHs and the Sump flow away from him and he's STILL blown over.
So I turned off all movement in my tank and now the Xenia is slumped over, no pulsing, just limp. He was always tall and reaching with a slender trunk and now it's squat and he's just spread out.
Can Xenia's get too much water flow?? He did this a few days ago and I did a 20% water change and hew as back to normal within a few minutes... now what?
Amm 0
Trite 0
Trate 0
Phos 0
pH 8.2
Temp 78
SG 1.026
Calc 420
Alk 14
Water Flow : x22
 
mushroomss

mushroomss

Member
seems like you have alot of flow in your tank but that is a good thing not bad.how often do you do waterchanges?i see you dont test for evrything so some trace supplements could be the issue.OH and how often did you keep moving your xenia?it takes corals sometimes a couple weeks before they can get acclimated to the spot there in.
 
kynekke

kynekke

Member
I did a water change on Friday but usually it's every 2 weeks or so. I crashed my tank during a 20% water change last month so I'm hesitant to do it very often. I just moved over to Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean on this last water change.
I moved my Xenia to a different spot then back to it's original all within about a 10 minute period. I'll give it a sec, it just looks too blown over to be comfortable you know?

Oh... Thursday I pulled a Mojano Anemone off of this guy, he was doing fine until then but has pouted since... could that be it, can he miss his buddy??
 
rbaldino

rbaldino

Active Member
It's not unusual for xenias to not pulse and they can stop for no reason at all. I have two different types of xenia in my tank - one just like yours. They're both healthy and growing, but the one like yours no longer pulses. My other one pulses all the time. From what I've read, pulsing or not pulsing doesn't really have anything to do with the health of the coral. I wouldn't worry about the pulsing, just get him in a good spot and give him time to open back up.
 
shrimpi

shrimpi

Active Member
I HATE xenia.
Ive had a pompom (it got pushed over by my clumsy turbo snail and did a face-plant in the sand. When I got home... it was already too late.)
I HAVE two specimens of waving hand xenia. Neither one has EVER pulsed. I dont know why. They split, grow, etc, but dont pulse. Ive really come to despise them.
I add iodine and essential elements, get water tested to confirm my tests, etc.
I have other corals that are doing great: zoas, leather, frogspawn, rics, dendros, gorg., goniopora... No problems at all.
Im really close to taking my xenia back to the LFS. They were pulsing in the LFS, jsut not in my home. Xenia are pretty ugly when they dont pulse !
Lol. I just had to chime in.
 
coral keeper

coral keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by rbaldino
It's not unusual for xenias to not pulse and they can stop for no reason at all. I have two different types of xenia in my tank - one just like yours. They're both healthy and growing, but the one like yours no longer pulses. My other one pulses all the time. From what I've read, pulsing or not pulsing doesn't really have anything to do with the health of the coral. I wouldn't worry about the pulsing, just get him in a good spot and give him time to open back up.
What kind of xenia pulses ALL the time? I have a xenia thats just like Kynekke and in the LFS it was pulsing and when i brought it home it was pulsing for like a hour or 2 then stoped ever sins its never pulsed, i got it 8 days ago.
 
rbaldino

rbaldino

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
What kind of xenia pulses ALL the time? I have a xenia thats just like Kynekke and in the LFS it was pulsing and when i brought it home it was pulsing for like a hour or 2 then stoped ever sins its never pulsed, i got it 8 days ago.
I don't think there's any xenia that will definitely pulse all the time. It seems to vary from individual to invidual and tank to tank. I believe the species I have that constantly pulses is a Red Sea Pink & White Xenia (or something very similar).
 
kynekke

kynekke

Member
I got my Xenia on 7/6/07 and it pulsed and pulsed... now it just hangs his head low =/ He won't even stand up straight anymore. I sent a batch of water to a LFS that deals only in Saltwater and hope they can find what's up.
He did stop pulsing on Friday so did a 20% water change and he perked right up only to pout again on Sunday.
I was just reading through a website on Xenia and they say that Xenia needs VHO or MH's! The LFS that I trust said they had them under PC's and it was growing, this was a frag from a MUCH larger one. Could that be his problem? Not enough light?
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by Kynekke
I got my Xenia on 7/6/07 and it pulsed and pulsed... now it just hangs his head low =/ He won't even stand up straight anymore. I sent a batch of water to a LFS that deals only in Saltwater and hope they can find what's up.
He did stop pulsing on Friday so did a 20% water change and he perked right up only to pout again on Sunday.
I was just reading through a website on Xenia and they say that Xenia needs VHO or MH's! The LFS that I trust said they had them under PC's and it was growing, this was a frag from a MUCH larger one. Could that be his problem? Not enough light?

Xenias suck up alot of iodine in your tank and its essential to them. I dont know if you check for that or not but water quality is where I would start if my Xenia were to slouch. Also lighting, mine sit very high on my LR when they want to they almost reach out of the water. And i never give them direct flow but more of an indirect medium current. I have all stock lighting in a 29 biocube and i do weekly water changes of 20%.
 
kynekke

kynekke

Member
I think we figured it out.... I took yet another water sample to the LFS and this time it came back with Ammonia at 2.3!! Nothing has died recently (other than a tank diver) so I started a water change... baffled... that's when I remembered.
Last week I got an order of chaeto in that I had ordered from a poster here. It was sent regular mail and took 3 days to arrive. Without thinking I put it in the fuge and went on my business. 3 days later things started dying. I think the dying chaeto was putting ammonia into the tank.
LFS agrees and after an 8 gallon water change today the Xenia is slightly pulsing. I'll do small changes over the next few days and try to get those numbers down. UGH

I'm also throwing out my American Pharm and Seachem tests because both were telling me ammonia was 0, trite 0, trate 0... all are elevated and my calcium is at 520 not the 400 I show it at. All in all, my water is awful (high dkh too) and my tests were all showing normal.
Can I do more than 20% a day? I did a 20% an hour ago... can I do another 20% in ... say... 6 hours? If the 20% did him so much good I bet another 20% would get him from leaning on the rocks.
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by Kynekke
I think we figured it out.... I took yet another water sample to the LFS and this time it came back with Ammonia at 2.3!! Nothing has died recently (other than a tank diver) so I started a water change... baffled... that's when I remembered.
Last week I got an order of chaeto in that I had ordered from a poster here. It was sent regular mail and took 3 days to arrive. Without thinking I put it in the fuge and went on my business. 3 days later things started dying. I think the dying chaeto was putting ammonia into the tank.
LFS agrees and after an 8 gallon water change today the Xenia is slightly pulsing. I'll do small changes over the next few days and try to get those numbers down. UGH

I'm also throwing out my American Pharm and Seachem tests because both were telling me ammonia was 0, trite 0, trate 0... all are elevated and my calcium is at 520 not the 400 I show it at. All in all, my water is awful (high dkh too) and my tests were all showing normal.
Can I do more than 20% a day? I did a 20% an hour ago... can I do another 20% in ... say... 6 hours? If the 20% did him so much good I bet another 20% would get him from leaning on the rocks.
Im glad you found the issue. I wouldnt do another change for about another 2 days. And when you do I would recomend another 20%. Do that for about 2 weeks every 3 days do a 20% change using RO/DI water, and you will see all your levels straighten out. Iodine does come in a bottle but depending on the size tank you have you may not need it. I do weekly water changes in my tank 6 gals on a 29 gal cube, which is about 25 gals in the main tank. I basically replace all of the essential elements that my corals need with my water change calc, iodine etc. Although I test for them all i havent had to dose yet.
 
wilson2

wilson2

Member
you know, i just stumbled on this thread, but i also have a xenia issue. my tank does great, i have many softs and stony's that do fine, but I bought a large xenia frag 6 mos ago and it died within a couple of weeks. it had a little start that came back (i mean tiny) and has struggled around ever since, so i bought another frag one week ago. it is now slouched, etc. and just doesnt look great. I have a 400w MH centered over my 120g. everything else does great. I try to grow the xenia off to one end, but im pretty sure it gets sufficient light. flow is medium and not direct.
 
kynekke

kynekke

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Can chaeto release ammonia? 2.3 seems really high.
That's all myself and the LFS could come up with. The only death recently was a peppermint shrimp which was promptly eatten and a diamond goby that took a tank dive out to the carpet. Funny how he got through egg crate... anyway we can't figure out where the ammonia came from and that Chaeto is all we could come up with.. when I pulled it out of the sump is smelled pretty nasty.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Ammonia over 2 in a cycling aquarium is a concern... In an established tank it is a catastrophe. Do water changes immediately. Several water changes... Ammonia that high is capable of killing everything including your bacteria.
Buy your own test kits to avoid this. If you see something abnormal test.
Seriously, get away from the computer and go do a water change. Then mix up more water for a water change tomorrow.
 
kynekke

kynekke

Member
I've done 2 already today... 2 20%'s and have the makings for another 20% tomorrow so no worries, I don't sit at the PC all day unless I'm at work. I do own 2 test kits.. API and Seachem and I test every other day and those tests came out that the water was ok. It wasn't until I took it in to the LFS that I found the problem. Now I've ordered a Hagen test kit.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Kynekke
I've done 2 already today... 2 20%'s and have the makings for another 20% tomorrow so no worries, I don't sit at the PC all day unless I'm at work. I do own 2 test kits.. API and Seachem and I test every other day and those tests came out that the water was ok. It wasn't until I took it in to the LFS that I found the problem. Now I've ordered a Hagen test kit.
Sorry, wasn't implying you sat at the computer all day. Just trying to convey urgency.
No, though, I'm confused... if 2 test kits showed no ammonia I'm not convinced that is the problem. Are you sure you are using them correctly? I could see one going bad, but 2?
 
kynekke

kynekke

Member
I just follow the directions.. both API's test tube and the yellow seachem dot remained yellow after the ammonia tests. Since the 2nd water change my Xenia is pulsing again though... it's still slumped over but at least it's moving some.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top